Kosovo is contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war primarily as a result of the conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Liberation Army in the late 1990s, and the conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO in 1999. The 2017 Landmine Monitor reports that mine contamination covered 1.9km2 as of the end of 2016, a reduction from the 2.5km2 reported at the end of 2015. Mines are found mainly on Kosovo`s borders with Albania and Macedonia but also in the area of Dulie Pass in south-central Kosovo. The number of cluster munition contaminated areas at the end of 2017 was 49 covering 15.4km2.
The Monitor states the impact of “cluster munition contamination in Kosovo is said to impede and endanger use of land for agriculture, pasture, tourism, and firewood collection, and most directly affects the rural poor. Kosovo is small geographically with a relatively large population, and submunitions are often found in close proximity to human activity. In 2017, at the Kryshec clearance task in the Peje district, HALO Trust reported that the primary land use after clearance was for residential purposes, with local residents looking to build houses.”
The Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program deployed the Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) to Kosovo with The HALO Trust in mid-2016. HALO is evaluating the effectiveness of the HSTAMIDS in Central and Southern Kosovo minefields. The system has been used to clear 180,068m2 to date.

The Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) is the U.S. Army`s AN/PSS-14 dual sensor, handheld mine detector that combines an electromagnetic induction sensor and ground penetrating radar (GPR) to detect landmines. The addition of the GPR significantly reduces the detector`s false alarm rate and the time the operator spends investigating clutter, increasing the operator`s speed and effectiveness. The HD R&D program also developed the HSTAMIDS F3S variant which incorporates a more sensitive metal detector to improve performance against deeply buried low metal anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.
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